God, according to the Bible, “has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Ecc 3:11). I try to keep this wisdom in mind, as a scholar who is too prone to assume that his discipline has a monopoly on human … More In Which a Historian Learns to Embrace Nostalgia…
Greetings from Covenant Pines Bible Camp in beautiful northern Minnesota. Since I’m on retreat with other members of our congregation, I probably shouldn’t even have a laptop and wifi, but since I do… a few links from this blog and others: Here… • The real “crisis in authority” in evangelicalism is that women don’t have authority in evangelicalism. • You … More That Was The Week That Was
Just a quick post today to let you all know that InterVarsity Press has made a couple of important decisions about The Pietist Option: Hope for the Renewal of Christianity, my forthcoming book with Mark Pattie: They’ve moved up the publication date to this September It will be released in hardcover So it’s still a few … More The Pietist Option: Publication Date and Pre-Ordering
Chris and Sam riff on trump, sabbath, nostalgia, and three other words. … More Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz (Episode 2)
The real evangelical “crisis of authority” is that evangelical women have little authority. The other “crisis” is neither new nor necessarily a crisis. … More The Evangelical “Crisis of Authority” (It’s not just for women bloggers)
Here… • It’s not just for evangelists and vice-presidents. Does the so-called “Billy Graham Rule” contribute to gender disparities in the leadership of Christian colleges and universities? • I thought that Molly Worthen was right that evangelicalism is often the source of its own problems… but perhaps it can also help generate its own solutions. • … More That Was The Week That Was
It’s been a few weeks now since a Washington Post profile of Second Lady Karen Pence reminded everyone of comments made by her husband back when he was still an Indiana congressman: that Mike Pence “never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won’t attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, … More The Graham Rule and Barriers to Women in Leadership at Christian Colleges
In one of my favorite episodes of one of my favorite TV series, the fictional town of Springfield takes a second shot at Prohibition and Homer Simpson becomes a bootlegger. As “Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment” ends, with everything returned to normal, Homer stands on a pyramid of kegs, hoists a beer, and proposes a toast: I thought of … More To Evangelicalism! The Cause of — and Solution to — Most of Its Own Problems
I’ll be down in New Ulm, Minnesota this Thursday evening giving a free lecture as part of the city’s centennial series on World War I. A German-American enclave in the southern part of the state, New Ulm had a difficult experience of the war, with its municipal leadership suspected of sedition by the state. You can learn … More Previewing My Talk on World War I Memorials
This year our church’s Maundy Thursday service began with each person at our table drawing from a bag the name of a disciple. For the rest of the service, we’d then try to imagine the story from the point of view of that follower of Jesus. My son, for example, drew Simon the Zealot. Fittingly, I … More Pilate’s Holy Saturday
The Pietist Schoolman 